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and bidding them prepare their sickles, for in the evening they should cut their barley, she went on her way. And it came to pass as the saint had foretold. In the evening the barley was ready for the sickle, and while the men were busy reaping, St. Milburga's enemies came up, and asked for news of her. The men replied that she had stayed there at the time of the sowing of that barley, and they went away baffled. But when they came to hear that the barley which was sown in the morning ripened at mid-day, and was reaped in the evening, they owned that it was in vain to fight against God.

Medieval hagiologists relate the flight of St. Milburga from the too violent suit of a neighbouring prince, whose pursuit was checked by the river Corve, which, as soon as she had passed it, swelled from an insignificant brook to a mighty flood which effectually barred his progress.

SHREWSBURY: SS. PETER AND PAUL'S WELL.

SS. Peter and Paul were obvious dedications for two wells in a field near "Burnt Mill

Bridge" in the parish attached to the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul at Shrewsbury. They were "good for sore eyes," and were much resorted to till they were destroyed by the drainage of the field, about 1820.-Salopian Shreds and Patches, July 27, 1881.

THE WREKIN: ST. HAWTHORN'S WELL. St. Hawthorn's Well existed on the Wrekin in recent years, and was supposed to be effectual in cases of skin diseases. We are told of a man who suffered from a scorbutic affection, who was wont to walk from his home, six miles distant, before 2.30 a.m., that he might drink the water and bathe his face in the well before sunrise, which was

needful to the cure. But unfortunately his trouble was in vain.—Ibid., August 17, 1881.

RHOSGOEH: WISHING WELL.

At Rhosgoeh, on the Long Mountain in the Montgomeryshire portion of the Shropshire parish of Worthen, is a famous wishingwell, which is "good for the eyes" besides. "One of my cottagers," writes Sir Offley Wakeman, "who lived close to the well for two years, tells me that the bottom was bright with pins-straight ones he thinks and that you could get whatever you wished

for the moment the pin you threw in touched the bottom." "It was mostly used for wishing about sweethearts."

WELLINGTON: ST. MARGARET's well.

and was yearly visited by Black Country folk and others, who douked, or dipped, their heads in it on Good Friday.

This is renowned for its eye-healing virtues,

LUDLOW: BOILING WELL.

The pretty legend of the Boiling Well-so called from its continual bubbling as it rises in a meadow beside the river Corve at Ludlow, was related to me on the spot in the year 1881, as follows. Three centuries ago the principal figure would have been described as a holy saint in disguise instead of a simple palmer.

"Years ago, you know, there was what was called the Palmer's Guild at Ludlow. You may see the palmer's window in the church now: it is the east window in the north chancel, which was the chantry chapel of the guild. The old stained glass gives the Edward the Confessor gave a ring to a poor story of the Ludlow palmers; how King pilgrim, and how years afterwards two palmers from Ludlow, journeying homeblessed St. John the Evangelist, who gave wards from the Holy Land, met with the them the same ring, and bade them carry it to their king and tell him that he to whom he had given it was no other than the saint himself, and that after receiving it again the king should not live many days, which came to pass as he said. The Palmer's Guild founded many charities in Ludlow, and among them the Barnaby House, which was a hospice for poor travellers. Many used to pass through the town in those days, especially pilgrims going to St. Winifred's Well in Wales. And once upon a time an old palmer journeying thither was stayed some days at Barnaby House by sickness, and the little maid of the house waited on him. Now, this little maid had very sore eyes. And when he was got well and was about to go on his way, he asked of her what he should do for her. 'Oh, master,' said she, 'that my sight might be healed!' Then he bade her come with him, and led her outside the town, till they stood beside the Boiling Well. And the old man blessed the well, and bade

it have power to heal all manner of wounds and sores, to be a boon and a blessing to Ludlow as long as the sun shines and water runs. Then he went his way, and the little maid saw him no more, but she washed her eyes with the water, and they were healed, and she went home joyfully. And even to this day the well is sought by sufferers from diseases of the eyes.” Our old informant had known a man come with a horse and cart all the way from Bromyard, in Herefordshire, to fetch a barrel of the water for his wife's use, and when the barrel was empty he came again.-Shropshire Folklore, 421.

LUDLOW: WISHING WELL.

In a valley called "Sunny Gutter," near Ludlow, is a wishing-well, into which you must drop a stone, and the wish you form at the moment will be fulfilled.—Ibid., 422.

BASCHURCH: THE EAS WELL.

The Eas Well, at Baschurch, in a field beside the river Perry, a mile west of the church, was frequented till twenty years ago by young people, who went there on Palm Sunday to drink sugar and water and eat cakes. A clergyman who was present in 1830, speaks of seeing little boys scrambling for the lumps of sugar which escaped from the glasses and floated down the brook which flows from the spring into the river.-Ibid., 432.

OSWESTRY: ST. OSWALD's well.

The famous well of St. Oswald makes no figure in the authentic history of the saint. In all probability it was a pagan sacred spring frequented long before his time, to whom it was afterwards dedicated. An undated deed of the thirteenth century describes certain land as being situated near the Fount of St. Oswald. In the fifteenth century the chronicler Capgrave writes that in the plain called in English Maserfeld, "the church which is called the White Church is founded in honour of St. Oswald, and not far from it rises an unfailing spring, which is named by the inhabitants St. Oswald's Well." Leland, in the sixteenth century, adds that in his day it was said that "an eagle snatched away an arm of Oswald from the stake, but let it fall in that place where now the spring is," which gushed forth where the incorruptible arm of the saint rested. A chapel, he says, has been erected

over it, the ruins of which were still to be seen in Pennant's time (1773), but have now disappeared. But the waters of Oswald's Well still flow freely at the foot of a woody bank in a field on the outskirts of Oswestry, next to that now used as the Grammar School playground. A little stream runs from the well to a pool below. Above and behind it is secured from falling soil or leaves by walled masonry, probably about a hundred years old, opening in front in a rounded archway, beneath which the stream flows away. In 1842 a local antiquary, the late Mr. J. F. M. Dovaston, wrote that "the feeble and the infirm still believe and bathe in the well, and did more so until it was enclosed in the noisy playground. Bottles of its waters are carried to wash the eyes of those who are dim or short-sighted, or the tardy or erring legs of such as are of weak understandings." Nowadays it seems chiefly used as a wishing-well, and many are the ceremonies prescribed for attaining the heart's desire thereby. One rite is, to go to the well at midnight, and take some of the water up in the hand, and drink part of it, at the same time forming the wish in the mind. rest of the water must then be thrown upon a particular stone at the back of the well, where the schoolboys think that King Oswald's head was buried, and where formerly a carved head wearing a crown projected from the wall. In Mr. Dovaston's boyhood this was in good preservation, but in 1842 he says wanton tenants have battered it to a perfect mummy. If the votary can succeed in throwing all the water left in his hand upon this stone, notwithstanding any other spot, his wish will be fulfilled.

The

A young girl at Oswestry, about three years ago, obtained the wish which she had breathed into a small hole in the keystone of the arch over the well.

Another approved plan is to bathe the face in the water, and wish while doing so; or, more elaborately, to throw a stone upon a certain green spot at the bottom of the well, which will cause a jet of water to spout up in the air. Under this, the votary must put his head and wish, and the wish will be fulfilled in the course of one or two days.

Another plan savours of divination: it is to search among the beech-trees near the

well for an empty beechnut-husk, which can be imagined to bear some sort of likeness to a human face, and to throw this into the water with the face uppermost. If it swims while the diviner counts twenty, the wish will be fulfilled, but not otherwise.-Ibid., 427, 428.

SUFFOLK.

SUDBURY: HOLY WELL.

About half a mile from the town is a spring of exceedingly pure water, which is supposed to possess the power of healing many painful diseases; in consequence the water is called holy water.

LOWESTOFT: BASKET WELLS.

The parvise over the porch of St. Margaret's Church is known as the "Maid's Chamber," in consequence of two maiden sisters, named respectively Elizabeth and Catherine, who lived a recluse life, inhabiting it; they left a sum of money for the sinking of two wells, between the church and the infirmary, called the Basket Wells, Basket being said to be a corruption of Bess and Kate, the names of the donors.

WOOLPIT: OUR LADY'S WELL.

Near the church is the famous well of "Our Lady," to which pilgrimages were wont to be made in days of yore.

SURREY.

WARLINGHAM: PROPHETIC SPRING.

"In a grove of ewtrees within the Manour of Westhall, in the parish of Warlingham, as I have frequently heard, rises a spring upon the approach of some remarkable alteration in church or state, which runs in a direct course between Lille Hills to a place call'd Foxley-Hatch, and there disappears, and is no more visible till it rises again at the end of Croydon town, near Haling pound, where with great rapidity it rushes into the river near that church. . . . It began to run a little before Christmas, and ceas'd about the end of May, at that most glorious æra of English liberty the year 1660. In 1665 it preceeded the plague in London, and the Revolution in 1668.”—Nat. Hist. and Antiq. of Surrey, iii. 47, 48.

FARNHAM ST. MARY.

There was a holy well here dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

SUSSEX.

RUSPER: NUN'S WELL.

On the south-western side of the parish was situated the small establishment of Benedictine nuns who for three hundred years were the rectors and patrons of Horsham Church. When this priory was founded, and by whom, appears to be a matter of great obscurity. At a short distance from the house, surrounded by copse-wood and overhanging trees, is a small well of a circular form, and surrounded by cut stone, overgrown with moss. A flight of winding steps leading to it from an adjoining eminence adds a peculiar romantic and pleasing effect to this venerable work of antiquity, which is known by the name of "Nun's Well."

No account is to be found of its history, though it may perhaps have belonged to the neighbouring castle-Sidgwick. The tradition among the inhabitants affirms that a subterraneous passage connects this castle with the nunnery at Rusper, which is eight miles distant, but no attempt has been undertaken to ascertain the truth of this conjecture.

A tradition also states that the old convent bell was sunk in a pond in front of the house, and has disappeared in the mud.

In the appendix to the History and Antiquities of Horsham, Dudley Howard, 1836, from which work the above is quoted, it is asserted that near the building is a very deep well, said to have been used as a place of destruction for those members of the convent who had dared to break the vows of chastity.

SIDGWICK CASTLE: ST. MARY'S OR NUN'S WELL.

Sidgwick Castle is in the parish of Broadwater, between Nuthurst and Horsham, about two miles and a half eastward from the latter.

About thirty yards from the outer moat is a well beautifully constructed of large blocks of hewn stone. It is called "The Nun's Well." Why, it is difficult to say, as this castle never was a religious house; it is also sometimes called "St. Mary's Well.". Ibid., p. 176.

HORSHAM: NORMANDY WELL.

This well obtains its name from the part of the town in which it stands, and which is

supposed to have been used by the Norman Brotherhood, who lived in the first house, next the churchyard, of the row east of the church called "The Normandy." This house still retains the name of the "Priests' House." The "Normandy Well" is open, and runs partly under one of the houses; it is only about four feet in depth, and yet in the longest drought the water always stands up (sic) sufficiently high to allow a pail to be dipped into it. It has been the custom to use the water from this well for the baptisms in the church.-Horsham: its History and Antiquities, Miss D. Hurst, 1868, pp. 32, 33.

MAYFIELD PALACE: ST. DUNSTAN'S WELL.

Adjoining the kitchen apartments at the lower end of the hall is a well of considerable depth-Black's Guide to Sussex, 1884, says it is reputed to be 300 feet deep-and supplied with the purest water. It is called "St. Dunstan's Well," and was probably dedicated in his honour, and consequently the resort of pilgrims and the reputed scene of miracles. It is guarded by four walls, having one entrance.-Suss. Arch. Coll., ii. 244.

LEWES: PIN WELL.

On the opposite side to the Friends' Meeting House, enclosed by brick walls, is a perennial spring that bursts out from the adjoining chalk-ridge, and rushes into the neighbouring brooks. This spring bears the ancient name of "Pin Well," and in former times enjoyed some celebrity. It was within the limits of the grounds belonging to the Grey Friary; it was approached by steps. The road from Pin Well to the bottom of School Hill was commonly called "The Friars' Walk." It is near the station. were formerly dropped into it. The well is now-1890-filled in; but its site, a small irregularly shaped piece of ground, is still distinguishable, being surrounded by a low brick and flint wall, having on the side fronting Friars' Walk a stone tablet with "Pin Well" cut on it.

Pins

A writer of the last century makes the following remarks anent the well: "Pynwell Street, so called from Pynwell, a very pure spring, which rises near the west end of 'Friars' Wall,' and was so called from Pinn or Pynn, a pine-tree, which formerly shadowed it, leads from School Hill, down

by All Saints' churchyard, on the west, but formerly had its direction on the other side, nearly opposite Pynwell.'"- History of Lewes and Brighthelmstone, by Paul Duncan, Lewes, 1795, p. 366.

(The account of these five wells has been kindly supplied to me by C. T. Phillips, Esq., Lewes.)

EASTBOURNE: HOLY Well.

"The chalybeate springs at Holywell, a short distance west of the Sea Houses, are highly worthy the attention of the visitor. The quality of the water is said intimately to resemble the far-famed springs of Clifton, and it has been found highly beneficial in many of the diseases for which the mineral waters of Bristol are almost deemed a specific."

The analysis, however, proves them to consist of simple, but very fine, surface water.

"Not far distant there was a chapel dedicated to St. Gregory. Tradition states that the French, in one of their marauding expeditions, landed here, burnt the chapel, and carried off its bell to some church in Normandy. The chroniclers are silent as to this event."-History of Sussex, Horsfield, 1831, vol. i., 291. Sussex, by Lower, 1870, vol. i., 151. Suss. Arch. Coll., xiv. 125.

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HAMPSHIRE (continued).

1. Alverstoke.

2. Alynton (chapel).

3. Baddesley.
4. Beawley.

5. Bentworthe.
6. Blenworth.
7. Boldere.

8. Botley.

9. Bristelden.

10. Brokenhurst.

II. Bromer.

12. Byryton.

13. Byshoppes Stoke.

14. Chalton.

15. Chilworth.

16. Christ Churche.

17. Clanfeld.

18. Corhamton.

19. Drokensford.

20. Dybden.

21. Elynge.

22. Elingham.

23. Est Meun.

24. Eworst.

25. Exton.

26. Falley and Chapel of Exbury.

27. Fareham.

28. Fordyngbrydge.

29. Hammell de Ryse.

30. Hameldon.

31. Harbrydge.

32. Havaunt.

33. Hawnde.

34. Haylinge Northwod.

35. Hayling Suthwod.

36. Haylle.

37. Holnehurst.

38. Hordell.

39. Hunton.

40. Ibisley.
41. Idesworth.

42. Ketheryngton.
43. Kyngsyate.
44. Lindestede.
45. Meanstoke.
47. Milbroke.
48. Mylford.
49. Mylton.
50. Netley.
51. Northestoumer.
52. Nuteshalling.
53. Over Eldon.
54. Over Mallopp.
55. Petersfylde.
56. Porchester.

57. Portsey.

58. Portsmowth.

59. Rogborn.

60. Rowner.

61. Ryngwood. 62. Soberton.

63. Sopley.

64. Sutht Charford.

65. Sutht Stonham. 66. Suthwicke.

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